Two hat-tricks as Brooklands MU and Surbiton draw

A player from each side hit a hat-trick in a scintillating 3-3 draw between Brooklands Manchester University and Surbiton in the Men’s Hockey League Premier Division on Sunday.

Peter Flanagan hit three for Brooklands in the 3-3 draw but Gareth Furlong matched the feat and scored an equaliser just two minutes from time to grab a point for Surbiton.

The result sees Surbiton drop to third but Brooklands stay eighth and ease their relegation worries, five points above Canterbury.

Wimbledon remain top after a 4-2 win at East Grinstead. Goals from Kieran Mulholland and Nick Catlin for East Grinstead and efforts from Ben Arnold and Nathaniel Stewart made it 2-2, before unbeaten Wimbledon stepped up the pace and took the win through goals from Johnny Kinder and Pete Small.

East Grinstead are five points outside of the play-off positions with four games to go and will rely on other results going their way.

Holcombe gave their play-off chances a huge boost with a 2-1 win over Loughborough Students, despite a plucky display from their opponents.

Goals from Nick Bandurak and Gareth Andrew made sure of the points for Holcombe and they go second. They are six points above Beeston and six points off Wimbledon at the top.

Elliot Smith hit the consolation for Loughborough Students but they remain rooted to the foot of the table without a point.

Another team vying for a top-four finish are Beeston – but they let a late lead slip against Reading on and drew 2-2.

Mo Gandhi opened the scoring for Beeston before Kiran Patel levelled for Reading. Jonny Wilkinson’s strike saw Beeston regain the lead, but with two minutes left Reading pulled their goalkeeper off and used a kicking back. The tactic worked and ten seconds later, James Carson scoring the equaliser.

It was a good weekend for Reading, who are now on 19 points after they took victory over East Grinstead on the Saturday. Ed Carson, Nick Park and Richard Mantell were on target for Reading with Dominic Bowden and Simon Faulkner replying for East Grinstead.

Also playing on the Saturday were Canterbury and Hampstead and Westminster. That game ended 2-2 with Matt Guise Brown and Marc Edwards giving Hampstead a 2-0 lead before Joshua Pollard and then Tom Bean pulled Canterbury level. Hampstead are still in the top four and Canterbury are fighting for their lives in ninth.

Men’s Conference East

Dan Webster took his tally for the season up to 20 for the season with four goals in West Herts’ 5-2 win over Brighton and Hove in the Men’s Conference East.

Despite Webster being the leading scorer in the league West Herts are only seventh. However, the win makes it unlikely that they will have to worry about relegation.

Teddington lead on goal difference after a 3-2 defeat of Cambridge City but Sevenoaks remain in touching distance after beating Southgate by the same margin. Just one goal separates the two sides who have exactly the same number of wins, draws and losses.

Brighton are eighth and just three points ahead of ninth-placed Indian Gymkhana after a 3-2 win at Oxted. Hayden Beltz was their hero with a brace.

Richmond beat Wapping 3-1 in the only Men’s Conference East game on Saturday.

Men’s Conference North

The University of Durham edged closer to the Men’s Conference North title after a 4-2 win over Deeside Ramblers which saw them extend their lead to 12 points with just four games remaining.

Olton and West Warwickshire are doing all they can to catch them though, and recorded a 4-3 win against Oxton with goals from Chris Rawlings, Steven Batten, Martin Ebbage and Jack Williams.

At the other end of the table, it’s very tight between the bottom three of Cannock, Oxton and Leek.

Cannock did their chances of survival a world of good with a vital 4-3 win over fellow strugglers Leek, thanks to a dramatic penalty stroke in the final minute from Hardeep Jawanda.

Elsewhere, Sheffield Hallam moved up to sixth with a 2-1 win over Preston courtesy of an Andy Jackson double. A Thomas Ainsworth hat-trick saw Bowdon beat Doncaster 4-1.

Men’s Conference West

Cardiff and Met are on course to finish top in the Men’s Conference West but they had a tough time of it against strugglers Fareham.

Jamie Rawlings hit a hat-trick for Fareham, but Cardiff still ran out 5-4 winners with Jack Pritchard’s two goals in two minutes being a highlight, as well as Luke Hawker’s winning goal with four minutes left.

Team Bath Buccaneers haven’t given up on the title yet though and a Ben Mackey treble saw them beat the University of Birmingham 5-2 and put them within five points of Cardiff.

Isca and Cheltenham drew 3-3 and Chichester drew 2-2 with the University of Bristol.

The University of Exeter still have an outside chance of landing the title after a 4-0 win over Old Georgians but they are eight points behind leaders Cardiff.